Heathlands Residential Home (HR-95-047)
In February 1995, Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain contacted Heathlands, a retirement home in Prestwich, Greater Manchester catering mainly for Jewish residents, seeking potential participants in the project; and on 27 April 1995 six residents took part in a group interview. Three of them — Nat Frieling, Rachel Tarsky, and Tessa Amelan — subsequently gave solo interviews, joining the project’s twenty-two core informants in the Greater Manchester area. The other group interviewees were Gabrielle Adam (born in Russia in 1907), Samuel Flamholtz (born in Poland in 1922), and another male resident whose name and details are unrecorded. All the interviews took place at Heathlands.
Throughout the group interview, speakers check and correct each other's recollections, and in parts of the conversation members of the group speak over each other. Subjects covered include names of stars and films, many of the films--including comedies, serials, and animal stars--made during the 1920s. Saturday matinees are mentioned, along with the cost of tickets for the humbler types of cinema ('bug huts') with their very basic seating (benches). The conversation moves on to the 1930s, as participants pore over photos of stars of the period and exchange comments and opinions. Topics of lengthier debate include Charlie Chaplin and his films, the 1937 version of Lost Horizon, the scandal surrounding Jessie Matthews and Sonnie Hale, and the films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Discussion of films and cinema detours into collective consideration of the lack of availability of post-elementary education for members of their generation, before turning to recollections of the cinemas of central and suburban Manchester, assertions of the importance of the contributions of film producers and directors, and references to animated films of the 1930s (Snow White is mentioned) and ‘foreign’ films (the Cosmo in Glasgow is referred to).